Lacrosse club hopes to get into conference play

The GCSU Lacrosse Club has officially embarked upon its inaugural semester of competition.
Following two months of practice, the club has competed in three games and although they have yet to win, they have shown significant improvement with each game.
Co-President Matt Miller said that they struggled in their first game at Emory, but played much better Saturday against Kennesaw State and the University of Georgia’s club teams.
“The UGA team is by far the best team we’ve played so far,” Miller said. “We lost to them by the same amount that we lost to Emory, so I feel like were coming along.”
While winning is certainly a goal for the club,  members understand that they are part of a brand new club that is facing teams that have been together for a few years.
“The teams we’ve played aren’t as new as us, their players are all experienced, half our guys are learning the game for the first time,” Miller said. “We’re not 100 percent where we want to be, but now that we have the numbers we are getting there.”
Miller and Co-President David Weissman decided to start the club three semesters ago because they felt like there was a real interest in the sport around campus.
“I played club ball in high school and my senior year we started a varsity team,” Miller said. “I wanted to keep playing in college because I really enjoy it. It’s something to do and have fun with.”
After a lot of work Miller and Weissman began the process to create a recognized student organization.
“We had to apply and show that there is a real interest in the club in order to get the RSO label,” Miller said. “Then we had to present our idea to the sports club board.”
The next step the club wants to take is to get into the Southeastern Lacrosse Conference.
“You have to show them you’re legit,” Miller said. “They have to see that we’re a real team with the ability to travel. So far, we’re just playing away games, at Emory and at Kennesaw this past weekend. We have to get our name out there.”
“Lacrosse is really a spring sport, right now we’re doing the fall ball part, but we’re eventually going to try and get some home games this spring at the intramural field,” Miller said.
The club is still looking for anybody that is interested to come out. No experience is necessary, as many members of the team have never played before.
Jeremy Abraham joined the club after hearing about it through some friends.
“I played football and soccer in high school and thought this was kind of combining the two,” Abraham said.
Abraham describes the game as kind of like hockey on grass, except without boards around the field.
“It’s a unique sport,” Abraham said. “I’ve never played anything like it before.”
Abraham said he is learning as he goes but that the game is pretty easy to pick up.
“Lacrosse is a relatively new sport, especially in this area,” Miller said. “Most people have not seen much of it, I think what attracts most people to it is the hitting. It’s not as high contact as football, but there are some good hits in the games.”
Jonathon Pawlowski said that those hits are a substantial component that lured him to the sport.
“I played when I was younger, but I didn’t have time in high school,” Pawlowski said. “I saw the opportunity to play now and I jumped on it because it is so much fun and keeps me in shape. Of course I also really like the opportunity to hit people with my stick and body.”
The team practices Monday through Thursday from 6:30 – 8 p.m. at the Bobcat Intramural Field and Miller encourages anyone who is interested to come out and join them.
“Students should at least come out and watch, we try to have inter-squad scrimmages on Thursdays,” Miller said. “I really think people will enjoy watching the sport.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 10 2006. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry